In the popular imagination, Albert Einstein is intimately associated with the atom bomb. A few months after the weapon was used against Japan in 1945, Time put him on its cover with an explosion mushrooming behind him that had E = mc2 emblazoned on it.
In a story overseen by an editor named Whittaker Chambers, the magazine painted a vivid picture of Einstein. It revealed the character of a reserved, almost saint-like, youthful figure with kind brown eyes, the weary expression of someone who has seen too much, and wildly unkempt hair reminiscent of the northern lights.
Did Albert Einstein Help Build the First Atomic Bomb?
Yet, Albert Einstein was not directly involved in the development of the atomic bomb. He influenced its creation in two major ways: first, by initiating the research that led to the bomb's development in the United States, and second, through his famous equation, E = mc2, which provided the essential theoretical basis for the atomic bomb's possibility.
Newsweek, likewise, did a cover on him, with the headline “The Man Who Started It All.” This was a perception fostered by the U.S. government. It had released an official history of the atom bomb project that assigned great weight to a letter Einstein had written to President Franklin Roosevelt warning of the destructive potential of an atomic chain reaction.
